In the contact lens field, catalytic decomposition of disinfectant is an important process where the disinfectant must be totally removed from the article being disinfected and washing with large volumes of water or other solvent is not a viable alternative. In many of these settings, there is insufficient user attention to details of how long the disinfectant must remain in contact with the article being disinfected, a failure to adhere to the regimen because of its complexity, or simply a desire to reduce procedural steps.
Some of these problems have been encountered with catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide disinfection systems. For example, a commercially available disinfection system using hydrogen peroxide fixes a platinum catalyst to the bottom of a disinfection container containing hydrogen peroxide simultaneously with the introduction of contact lenses for disinfection. The catalyst quickly decomposes the hydrogen peroxide in the immediate vicinity of the catalyst generating oxygen which bubbles up through the solution recreating a nearly homogeneous, although slightly less concentrated, peroxide solution. As a result, there is uniform depletion of the disinfectant hydrogen peroxide within the system. While this is adequate for a number of disinfecting purposes, for some others it is not. Clearly, longer transition time in higher disinfectant concentrations would insure better compliance and less chance of product failure when used with more heavily contaminated materials needing disinfection.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of carrying out a catalytic reaction in a controlled manner allowing for greater transition times of a substance in the reactant mixture prior to the catalytic reaction occurring to a significant degree in the vicinity of that substance.
It is another object of the invention to provide a contact lens hydrogen peroxide disinfection system and method which avoids the aforementioned problems and/or difficulties.